State Investigation Agency with the help of the Criminal Investigation Department of Jammu and Kashmir Police in its drive to track down those allegedly involved in militancy-related incidents in the 1990s arrested 8 persons from Jammu region.
SIA has said that in 327 cases registered in the past under TADA, it has so far verified and identified 369 absconders out of 734 absconders. As per the SIA 215 absconders from Jammu and 154 from Kashmir have been identified while the cases related to 317 absconders from Jammu and 417 from Jammu are in progress.
The investigation agency has said that out of 369 verified absconders, 127 remained untraced, 80 have died, 45 are residing across the border and other countries abroad and 4 have been languishing in jail.
SIA said that it would investigate the cases from all angles to ascertain how these absconders managed to escape from the law and live a normal life in their native place without being traced for so long.
It said that 8 absconders among which some were doing government jobs have been arrested from Jammu, Doda, and Bhadarwa regions. The arrested persons have been identified as Adil Farooq Faridi of Sahidi Chowk Jammu (employee at BOSE), Muhammad Iqbal alias Javed and Mujahid Hussain both residents of Asthan Mohalla Doda, Tariq Hussain of Barshalla Doda, Ishtiaq Ahmed Dev alias Ajaz of Sah Mohalla Doda, Ajaz Ahmed alias Iqbal of Dandi Bhaderwah, Jameel Ahmed alias Jugnu alias Chika Khan of Kursari Bhaderwah and a Court employee Ishfaq Ahmed of Bun Doda.
SIA said that various militancy-related cases including murder, kidnapping, ransom, etc. had been registered against the arrested persons in the 1990s
“SIA has initiated a special drive to trace and produce all the absconders before the court of law,” it said. [KNT]